Du a in Distress & Calamity That Guarantees a Response
By Yasir Qadhi | 2026-01-07T20:26:58.430907+00:00 | Topic: Trials
Du'a in Distress & Calamity That Guarantees a Response
Dr. Yasir Qadhi
Opening Supplications
Indeed, all praise is due to Allah. We praise Him and seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of ourselves and from the wickedness of our deeds. Whomever Allah guides, there is none to misguide him; and whomever He misguides, there is none to guide him. And I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone, without any partners; and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger.
"O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except as Muslims [in submission to Him]."
"O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed Allah is ever, over you, an Observer."
"O you who have believed, fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice. He will [then] amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great attainment."
أَمَّا بَعْدُ
Introduction: The Greatest Duas from the Prophets
My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, the duas that are mentioned in the Quran upon the tongues of the prophets are the greatest of duas. In today's first half of our khutbah, I will mention two duas that I believe every single one of us should not just memorize but use frequently.
All of us know these duas - they are Quranic duas on the tongues of the prophets of Allah. Today we will insha'Allah ta'ala remind ourselves of the meanings and the power of two phrases from the tongues of two prophets:
1. The first is the dua of the prophet Ibrahim (عليه السلام)
2. The second is the dua of the prophet Yunus (عليه السلام)
Both of these duas were said at times of great difficulty, at times of distress when it appeared that there was no hope left. What dua did the prophet say when all hope of this world was cut off? We learn in the Quran and in the sunnah the duas of these two prophets.
The First Du'a: Hasbunallahu wa Ni'mal Wakeel
The Quranic Context
As for the dua of the prophet Ibrahim (عليه السلام), it is mentioned in the Quran upon the tongue of the prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) but we know from the hadith that the prophet Ibrahim used it before our prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم)
The Quran mentions that when the sahaba were gathered, were surrounded by the ahzab - by the 10,000 strong around Medina - and they really could not fight 10,000 strong, what did they say?
Allah says in the Quran:
The people - meaning the righteous people - are those who when mankind or other people told them "aren't you terrified, aren't you scared?" what was the phrase that came to the prophet and the sahaba: (حَسْبُنَا اللَّهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيلُ) - this was the dua.
The Story of Ibrahim (عليه السلام)
Ibn Abbas narrated that when the prophet Ibrahim was about to be thrown into that fire - what fire is this? This is the fire of Nimrod. This is the fire that for 3 days and 3 nights it was made hotter and hotter, the fire that they wanted to punish Ibrahim with when they accused him of destroying their idols.
Instead of responding back, he mocked them and said "No, no, must be the other idols who killed the biggest one - they must have been jealous of him." So this young boy Ibrahim, probably 14-15 years old, this young boy Ibrahim - and we learn from the traditions he was the only Muslim on earth at that time, there was no other Muslim other than him at that time - and he believes in Allah and he rejects the idols.
When these evil people, when these mighty kings surround him and they tell him "unless you apologize and come back to our way, we will kill you in this manner," and they torture him for 3 days and then they make this fire, and before they throw him in, what does he say?
Ibn Abbas said: when Ibrahim was about to be thrown into the fire, he said this is the dua of Ibrahim. And Ibn Abbas said: and this was also the dua of the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) when he was surrounded by the Ahzab, when all of the armies had gathered. This was the dua that came to the tongue of our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم)
The Meaning and Power of Hasbunallahu wa Ni'mal Wakeel
حَسْبُنَا اللَّهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيلُ
What is this dua and what does it mean? Why is this dua so powerful?
• حَسْبي الله (if we are alone) or حَسْبُنَا الله if we are with a group) - the singular is hasbiya, the plural is hasbuna
• وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيلُ - and what a perfect wakeel
• You may add if you want: نِعْمَ الْمَوْلَى وَنِعْمَ النَّصِيرُ - but the minimum is حَسْبِيَ اللهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيلٌ
What Does This Mean?
حَسْبي الله means "Allah is sufficient for me" - I don't need anybody else. حَسْبِي الله - I only need Allah, I don't need anyone else.
وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيلُ - and what a perfect wakeel. Here wakeel means not just protector, but someone whom I delegate my affairs to, someone who will take charge of what I need to be done.
Why Is This Du'a So Powerful?
When you say حسبي الله you can only say حسبي الله when you know who is Allah and then you put your trust in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. A heart that doesn't have iman, a heart that is ignorant of Allah cannot say حَسْبِيَ الله
When you say حسبي الله you are affirming:
• The power of Allah
• The love of Allah
• The fact that Allah knows who you are, what you're doing, how much you need Him
When you say حسبي الله you are saying: "Oh Allah, I recognize that when you decide to do something, nobody can come between you and your will. There is no strength, there is no power other than you."
When you say حَسْبي الله you say: "I don't care who is against me - if Allah is on my side, that's all that I need."
The Promise of Allah
Allah tells us in the Quran:
"Whoever truly trusts in Allah, Allah will take care of him. Allah azza wa jal is enough for him."
Allah says in the Quran:
"Whoever truly trusts in Allah, Allah azza wa jal will make an escape route for him and Allah will provide for him in a manner that he did not expect."
The Meaning of Al-Wakeel
نِعْمَ الْوَكِيلُ - what a beautiful, what a perfect, what a majestic wakeel. What is a wakeel? A wakeel is somebody - in Arabic you call sometimes a lawyer is a wakeel, even in Urdu we call - the wakeel is a lawyer. Why? Because when you hire a wakeel, when you have a wakeel, what do you do? You sit down and you let the wakeel do the business for you.
You hire the best wakeel, you hire the best lawyer - this is in our terms a lawyer - and if you really hire a good lawyer, you literally sit down and he'll do the job for you. He'll defend you, he'll make sure that the judge treats you in the manner you deserve. That's what the wakeel we call.
But Allah azzawajal isn't just a wakeel - he is Al-Wakeel. Al-wakeel means you trust him for everything, you delegate everything to him, that Allah will take care of this. He is the Al-wakeel.
وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيلُ - and what a beautiful, what a majestic, what a powerful wakeel he is. Ni'mah here is a praise of Allah and it's also an affirmation: "Oh Allah, you are the best wakeel, there is no wakeel like you."
The Second Du'a: La ilaha illa Anta Subhanaka
The Story of Prophet Yunus (عليه السلام)
The second dua is also used at times of distress, at times of difficulty. This is the dua of the Prophet Yunus (عليه السلام)
As we all know, the Prophet Yunus (عليه السلام) left his city without getting permission from Allah to leave, and this was a sin for the Prophets. The Prophets cannot leave the city until Allah tells them. The Prophet Yunus gave up - he said "my people are bad, they are not accepting, khalas let me just go" - and it wasn't appropriate for the Prophet to do this.
Yunus (عليه السلام) in the Depths of the Ocean
As we know, he went on to the ship and the people of the ship said "somebody has bad luck here" or "somebody is bringing this punishment - who must it be?" They drew lots and it came to Yunus, and there was a thunderstorm going - it was the middle of the night. They said "you're the one causing this omen" - and of course we don't believe in omens, these were not Muslims that were doing this - nonetheless they said "you're the cause of this bad luck, we need to get rid of you."
In the middle of a dark and stormy night, in the middle of the ocean when the thunder is going and the rain is pouring - complete darkness - they pick Yunus (عليه السلام) and they fling him over the ocean.
Just think about that - if any of you have ever been in the middle of the seas, how terrifying it is even on a beautiful day if you fall into that ocean. Imagine in the middle of the night when the waves are coming and the thunder and the rain, and they throw him into the middle of that darkness and he plunges and plunges and plunges.
As you all know, then Allah azzawajal causes a fish, a whale, to swallow him. That's why the Qur'an calls him (ذَا النُّونِ)(Dhannun) - and Nun in the Qur'an here means whale - the one of the whale. So Yunus is called the companion of the whale, and the whale takes him deep, deep, deep down the depths of the sea.
In the Depths of Darkness
Imagine brothers and sisters - wallahi these are stories that we know happen, it's in the Qur'an, we believe in them - imagine being the Prophet Yunus. Imagine that claustrophobia, that stench, not able to breathe, completely blind in the depths of the ocean.
Allah azzawajal says what did he do? He realized he made a mistake, he realized he made a mistake. So what?
Allah says:
"He called out in the depths of the darkness."
Wallahi how much darkness was there - the darkness of the night, the darkness of the depths of the ocean, the darkness of the inner chambers of the whale - darkness over darkness over darkness - complete and pitch darkness. Can you imagine the terror, the fear that anyone of us might have had? We would have died simply of a heart attack, we would have died of fear.
But Yunus (عليه السلام) realized "I need Allah azzawajal" and so what did he do?
From the depths of the ocean he calls out.
The Meaning of This Powerful Du'a
لا إله إلا أنت
لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ - there is no one worthy of being praised, worthy of being worshipped, worthy of being glorified other than you.
سُبْحَانَكَ - exalted are you above anything. What meaning? Some people who don't have strong faith, they blame Allah for their calamities and tragedies. They say "this is because of Allah, this is because of God, why is God punishing us? Why is God doing this to me?" And this is a common phrase we hear: "I'm a good person, why is God doing this to me?"
لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ - we do not speak like this. We do not accuse Allah of any injustice or evil.
So سُبْحَانَكَ here means "exalted are you, Oh Allah, you are only worthy of praise, you are not worthy of any criticism." سُبْحَانَكَ - exalted are you. سُبْحَانَكَ means we negate anything negative - it's a double negative, we negate anything negative.
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ - we praise for a positive. الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ is Allah's perfection. سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ - negation of Allah's imperfection. الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ is Allah's perfection - Allah is worthy of being praised because of His names and attributes, because of who He is. سُبْحَانَ اللهِ - we negate any negative.
إنّي كُنتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ - I was the one who made a mistake, I was the one who fell into a sin, I was the one who transgressed.
The Lesson for Us
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, when a person says this phrase:
In short, it was my mistake and error. If this is the Prophet Yunus saying he made a mistake, then where do we stand in front of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى ? If a Prophet of Allah is saying "I made a mistake," it was my mistake - what is the mistake here?
Of course all of us make mistakes. We fall into sins, we fall into things that are haram, we don't do the wajibat, we don't thank Allah as much as we should thank Him. All of this is a type of dhulm.
The Response of Allah
So he affirmed Allah's perfection, he sought Allah's forgiveness, and he acknowledged his own mistakes. So he combined between:
Tawheed • لَّا إِلهَ إِلَّا أَنتَ
• Negating anything negative - سُبْحَانَكَ
• Then affirming or describing imperfection to himself - إِنِّي كُنتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ
This is the perfection of repentance. You say: "Allah, you are perfect, I am imperfect. You are holy, I am sinful. You are the ilah and the god and I am the marboob and the abd. I am the one who is under your control."
When you affirm Allah's perfection and your own imperfection, you are being humble, and humility is the essence of worship.
Allah's Promise for This Du'a
Allahazzawajal says in the Quran:
"We were the ones who saved him from his distress."
And then listen to this phrase and memorize it, brothers and sisters - it is one of the most optimistic phrases in the Quran:
"And in this manner we shall save all of those who are in distress, all of those who believe, all of those who turn to me - we will save all of them."
The Prophetic Promise
Our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said in a hadith in Musnad Imam Ahmad that the dua of Dhunnun - meaning the dua of the one of the whale - that he cried out with when he was in the stomach of the whale was:
And then our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: "No Muslim ever says this dua except that Allah will answer him. No Muslim ever says this dua except that Allah will answer him."
(Musnad Ahmad hadith 1462)
Conclusion: Make These Du'as Part of Your Life
So these are the two duas, brothers and sisters:
1. حَسْبِيَ اللَّهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيلُ
2. لَّا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ
Memorize them, make them a daily part of your rituals.
Second Khutbah: Reflecting on Recent Tragedy
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الْوَاحِدِ الْأَحَدِ الصَّمَدِ الَّذِي لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ وَبَعْدُ
Tragedy and Tests
My dear brothers and sisters, tragedy that took place two days ago - and it is difficult to talk about this tragedy without emotions rising - we are all painfully aware of the murder of three of our young innocent men and women.
So much can be said, but wallahi I just want to mention a few simple points that we can all benefit from.
First Point: Tests Are Part of Life
First and foremost, tragedies and harms and problems are indeed a part of this life, and Allah tests us with various trials and tribulations. The parents of those young men and women have been tested in a manner that we can only begin to imagine, and we ask Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala to make their affairs easy for them.
Second Point: The Wisdom of Allah
As we look at this tragedy, there is no doubt that we see as well the wisdom of Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala. As we look at this tragedy, it is as if Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala chose these people to be role models even in their death.
It is as if Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala carved out a life for them that is a life that we can only be jealous of, even though they are half or one third of our age, that the good that they have done and the khair and the barakah that has come from their lives and the love that the community had for them while they were still alive - much less when they are dead - it speaks volumes about their ikhlas and their taqwa and their iman.
Third Point: Allah Chooses Whom He Loves
The fact of the matter, my dear brothers and sisters, is that Allah chose them because they were so righteous inshallah, and Allah blessed their families because Allah wanted to raise their ranks in this world and in the next.
Because our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
"When Allah loves a person, he tests them."
So this family has been tested, both of the families have been tested, the communities have been tested, and all of us - we are simply witnessing, we are not being tested the way they have been tested, we are simply looking on and spectators to what is going on.
Lessons for Our Community
But subhanallah, the galvanization of the American Muslim community - this could have been any one of us, this could have been any one of our children. We all are worried about the future of our community in this land. We are worried about the rhetoric that people are saying.
Yes, we do not know exactly what happened in this particular case, but still it seems to be what it seems to be - very clear to us. And regardless of the specifics, for sure the rhetoric that we are hearing from many segments of this society are very dangerous.
Perhaps incidents like these - perhaps Allahazza wa jal is using them to really be martyrs, shaheed, so that the people realize that we cannot continue with this rhetoric and this spiteful speech.
Final Recommendations
First: Most importantly, right now make dua for them and for their fathers and mothers and sisters and brothers. May Allahazzawajal grant them the peace and the sakina, may Allahazzawajal accept their shahada, may Allahazzawajal give sabr and tawfiq and iman to the family members of those that are left behind.
Second: We need to support their legacies. There are many funds raising going on. This young man was training to become a dentist and he was going to go to Syria in the refugee camps. He had gone last year with his fiancé, they had helped the refugees and orphans, and they were going to go again.
Third: We need to ask ourselves: why did Allah choose them and how did they get to this respect and legacy? We need to follow that legacy and understand the best way to gain Allahazza wa jal's blessing is to be on his path - to be as loving, as caring, as sincere, as merciful, as dedicated to these positive causes.
Lastly: We all need to be extra vigilant and monitor our situation. We don't have the luxury of shoving our heads in the sand anymore. We don't have the luxury of changing our names and pretending we are not Muslim.
Each and every one of us - these people were killed in their houses. We need to stand up and understand, we need to earn respect, earn the love of the people around us. We need to demonstrate the rahmah, the
mercy of Islam, the love, the compassion of Islam.